Vehicle partitions separating front and rear areas of a vehicle, such as in a law enforcement vehicle or a taxi cab, are known. Vehicle partitions are used in an effort to reduce the possibility that a rear seat occupant will harm or interfere with a front seat occupant, e.g., the driver of the vehicle.
Some partitions separate areas of the rear seat, e.g., into left and right areas, such that two persons can be separated from each other or a law enforcement dog can be separated from a person.
Many vehicles typically used in law enforcement are now equipped with side air bags. One category of side air bags is designed to reduce the risk of injury to an occupant's head and/or neck in the event of an accident. When triggered to deploy, these side air bags inflate to occupy spaces located generally along the inner side surfaces of the vehicle, including the side windows and frame members, in an effort to prevent or lessen injury from an occupant's impact with these surfaces.
There are side air bags that have a tubular shape when inflated, and others that are larger in size and loosely resemble a curtain window covering (referred to as “side curtain air bags”). Side curtain air bags for some vehicles can be designed to extend substantially the length of the interior, and particularly the length of the front and rear windows, when deployed. When viewed from either side of the vehicle, these side curtain air bags can extend from an area near the forward end of the front window rearward past the center pillar (usually the B-pillar, i.e., the portion of the body separating the front and rear windows), along the rear window and in some cases, beyond the rear window. Side curtain air bags are typically configured to deploy from the roof rail above the side windows. Other side air bags are deployed from the seats.
Conventional partitions have surrounding frames designed to fit closely to the sides and roof of the vehicles to reduce the chance that a rear seat occupant can reach around the partition with his hand or an implement. Proper functioning of side curtain air bags, however, requires unrestricted spaces opposite the windows to allow full inflation upon deployment.
It would be advantageous to provide a vehicle partition compatible with side air bags that still provides a measure of protection to front seat occupants. It would also be desirable to provide a sturdy partition mounting approach compatible with new vehicle interiors.